This invention relates to a calender arrangement with a plurality of hard and soft rolls, supported to be positioned against each other and separated from each other while forming different nips, through which a paper web can be guided on a number of different paths, in general and more particularly such a calender arrangement which is of low cost but still permits various paper web treatments to be carried out.
A calender arrangement of this general type is described in German Published Pat. Application No. 31 19 677 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,752). The arrangement of the embodiment illustrated therein comprises six hard rolls, arranged one over another, around which a paper web is guided in a meandering path. Soft rolls are supported so that they can be positioned from the side against one part of the hard rolls of this stack of rolls. If the hard rolls are separated from each other and the soft rolls are brought into engagement, then the web experiences a calendering only in those soft nips where a hard roll interacts with a soft roll. Alternatively, the two topmost hard rolls can be driven together, so that the paper web feeding between them initially experiences a smoothing out in a hard nip and subsequently experiences satinage in the soft nips. Finally, it is also possible to separate the soft rolls from the hard rolls and to place the hard rolls against each other, at least partly, so that a pure smoothing effect results on the paper web. The number of hard roll nips varies in accordance with the number of hard rolls placed against each other. Based on different needs, the paper web can be accordingly passed through the known calender arrangement in different ways.
The design of the embodiment described is quite costly, especially due to the necessity of positioning in different directions.
In view of this, there is a need to create a calender arrangement, entailing the lowest possible cost, which will still enable various paper web treatments to be performed without re-equipping the calender.